BLURB:When struggling
riverboat captain Abner Marsh receives an offer of partnership from a
wealthy aristocrat, he suspects something’s amiss. But when he meets the
hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York, he is certain. For York
doesn’t care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of
Marsh’s dilapidated fleet. Nor does he care that he won’t earn back his
investment in a decade. York has his own reasons for wanting to traverse
the powerful Mississippi. And they are to be none of Marsh’s concern—no
matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious his actions may prove.

Marsh
meant to turn down York’s offer. It was too full of secrets that
spelled danger. But the promise of both gold and a grand new boat that
could make history crushed his resolve—coupled with the terrible force
of York’s mesmerizing gaze. Not until the maiden voyage of his new
sidewheeler Fevre Dream would Marsh realize he had joined a mission both
more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic
nightmare...and mankind’s most impossible dream. Here is the
spellbinding tale of a vampire’s quest to unite his race with humanity,
of a garrulous riverman’s dream of immortality, and of the undying
legends of the steamboat era and a majestic, ancient river.

This book was a bookclub book of the month picked by my friend. I will not lie, when she said it is a book written by George R.R. Martin in 1982 I was more than excited, I enjoy The Song of Ice and Fire a very much, well most of it, and so to see what he written before....yes boy oh boy was I excited!

THE WORLD: So we are way back in the past in this book. Yes, the times when slavery was completely normal there was no such thing as racism. Basically in this book we travel down the Mississippi river towards New Orleans and so most of the book happens on the ship. Yes, you heard me right, this book is about going down the river in old dirty times. Very very not what I normally read, I agree. But frankly even tho the whole ship business was a little bit too much sometimes I did not really mind it. Maybe because Tom Sawyer was my favorite book in childhool and still makes me smile whenever I remember it...But one way or another I actually liked the world. Oh and I almost forgot, so in this world additionally we have vampires. Tho, not your usual type of teen vampires, these ones are rather ancient and all aristocratic and all that. As a friend who read it has mentioned, they really do remind me a lot of Anne Rice type of vampires. So yeah, that was pretty nice too.

CHARACTERS: There are two main characters in this book: Abner Marsh and Joshua York. Abner is a captain who makes a deal basically to build a fastest ship with Joshua's money and then they travel and Joshua has his business to take care of and so Abner asks nothing of that. As individual characters...I actually liked Abner much more than Joshua. There was something about Abner that make his just very simple and don't really know maybe likable is the world. The thing is I was drawn to his from the beginning, not as when you are drawn to cute characters but just to a simple character you like reading about. Joshua on the other hand seemed really weak to me. Not as in written weak but itself as a person weak. He submits to Damon Julian, the evil powerful vampire, from the day one basically. I really disliked that part. And I really disliked Damon Julian too, he was just a little bit too much for me. But I did like all the stories as to how all of them came to be and all that.

LOVE: Don't really happen in this book.

PLUS: There is just something about this book that even after all these weeks and after giving three starts when I think of it I am completely sure I liked it.

MINUS: Same as always with George R.R. Martin books, he talks too much of unimportant things. If you take half a book away it will do nothing to the story. Another minus was that I think this book is really racist. I mean okay it was published in 1982 so maybe back then it was alright but reading it today for me it was rather shocking how slaves were written about.

OVERALL: I really enjoyed this book. I cannot really explain why but I truly did.